House has to go through probate?

[Michael Roetzel]

We were set to close on a single family residence this Friday, when yesterday my realtor and I received word from the title company that the house would have to go through probate. But I'm not sure why. From what I gather there's a trust, and I'm dealing with the trustee. A big part of the reason one has a trust is to avoid probate, right? And here's why I've turned to you all:

1. I talked with the representative at the title company, and she was fixated on the fact that I wasn't dealing with one of the children of the deceased, and "therefore" it had to go through probate. My understanding is that's now how this works. The trustee does not need to be a child of the trustor, it can be anyone.

2. My real estate agent is a great guy, and he's the hardest-working agent in the area, but he's young and still new to this, and has never dealt with this situation before. 

I want this house and I don't want to scare the buyer off. We settled on a fair price, and they're not going to be happy about having to spend more time and money going through probate. I'm thinking of calling a lawyer for advice, myself. But it would be helpful to hear from anyone here who's been through this. Is this really necessary?

[Tom Gimer]

It's entirely possible that some event occurred that triggered the termination of the trust. Unfortunately without seeing the trust paperwork you're not going to get a definitive answer from anyone here.